Business Governance: The Learning Platform Your Successor Actually Needs
If you run a small business and someone brings up the word “governance,” your first instinct is probably to change the subject. It sounds corporate. It sounds slow. And if you have been making every decision yourself for the last 10 or 20 years, it sounds like someone wants to put handcuffs on you. I […]
Why Business Governance Is the Learning Platform Your Successor Actually Needs
Episode Description: Elizabeth Ledoux has spent 30 years guiding business owners through transitions — and in this solo episode, she gets personal about one of the most misunderstood tools in her toolkit: business governance. Most owners hear “board of directors” and immediately think bureaucracy, slowdowns, and handcuffs. Elizabeth breaks down why the opposite is true — that governance […]
Why the Most Expensive Mistake in Business Transition Has Nothing to Do with Your Attorney
If you are in the middle of planning a business transition, or even just starting to think about one, chances are someone has already told you to call your attorney. Get the entities set up. Talk to your CPA about the tax implications. Put together an estate plan before a sale or a transition. That […]
When the Smartest Business Builder in the Room Can’t Plan Their Own Next Chapter
There is a particular kind of stuck that only shows up in people who have built something significant. They are decisive in business. They can read a market, manage a crisis, and make a hundred calls a day without flinching. But ask them to sit down and plan what comes after the business, and everything […]
Founder Paralysis: Why Letting Go Feels Impossible and How to Move Forward with Purpose
Episode Description: In this conversation, Elizabeth sits down with Dennis Passis, founder, mediator, and author of Founder Paralysis, to unpack one of the most overlooked challenges in business transition: why founders struggle to let go. Drawing on decades of experience in family business and conflict mediation, Dennis explores the emotional, psychological, and identity-driven barriers that keep founders stuck. Together, […]
Why Legacy and Harmony Don’t Have to Be an Either-Or
We work with a lot of families and owners who are carrying a quiet fear. They’ll say things like, “I don’t want my family to fight over this,” or “I just want to protect what I’ve built.” And underneath those words is this belief that they have to choose between keeping their family together and […]
Keeping the Business in the Family: Transitioning Ownership Without a Third-Party Sale
When business owners start thinking about what comes next for their companies, the conversation often jumps straight to selling. Brokers, valuations, letters of intent. And for some owners, a third-party sale is the right path. But for many of the owners we work with, selling to an outsider was never part of the vision. They built their […]
When Family Conflict Already Exists: How to Move Forward Without Breaking the Business
Episode Description: In this grounded and deeply practical conversation, Elizabeth is joined by transition guide and coach Marcy McNeal to unpack one of the most common—and misunderstood—realities in family business: conflict. Rather than treating conflict as something to eliminate, Marcy reframes it as something to understand, navigate, and even use productively. Together, they explore the […]
Old Patterns, New Roles: Why Family Business Conflict Rarely Starts in the Boardroom
We recently sat down with Marcy McNeal, one of our transition guides and a certified social and emotional intelligence coach, to talk about something that shows up in nearly every family business we work with: conflict. Not the dramatic, door-slamming kind that makes for good television. The quieter kind. The kind that sits in the […]